#23

1. In what ways do you “construct” your identity? In what ways do you “perform” in your daily life?
Ways in which I construct my identity are through involving myself in activities I love, such as art. My life revolves around these things, so having friends and family involved in them as well is part of my identity. Furthermore, surrounding myself with friends who have the same sense of humor and lifestyle as I do is part of my identity. One can tell who a person is by his or her friends, which is why it is important to create healthy relationships. Ways in which I perform my identity is by maintaining relationships and immersing myself in the art world. More importantly, I find it important to keep myself grounded and not let myself forget who I am and where I came from.

2. Describe some ways in which your personal culture and social environments are “constructed”.
A way I construct a social environment is through the friends I have made and who I chose to engage in activities with. I know what social situations I enjoy and what situations I stray away from. By choosing whom I hang out with and where we hang out, I can construct my social identity. As for personal culture, one creates this through which aspects of popular culture relate to them. For example, Facebook is a huge part of today’s society. Since I use Facebook, it is part of my personal culture.

3. Describe some ways in which your physical environment/space is “constructed”.
I construct my physical space by decorating in a way that pleases me. I like to cover my walls with pictures I have taken on trips or of loved ones. I like to have bright colors surrounding me and interesting things to look at.

4. In your daily life, what would you consider to be “real” and what would you consider to be “constructed/fabricated”?
In my daily life, I consider relationship and emotions to be “real.” It’s difficult to fake true emotion and it’s obvious when true relationships are tangible. In my daily life, my art is constructed. All art must be fabricated in some form. Since I am taking only studio art classes and create my own art every day, constructing new concepts and projects is my normality.

5. Describe a narrative tableaux that you might create to be captured by a photograph. A narrative tableaux can be defined as “Several human actors play out scenes from everyday life, history, myth or the fantasy of the direction artist” ( Constructed Realities: The Art of Staged Photography Edited by Michael Kohler , 34).
I would create a narrative tableaux by recreating iconic photographs from history in modern life. I have already done this for a couple assignments (such as my recreation of Rosie the Riveter), but it would be interesting to expand this idea into a larger concept.

6. Describe an idea for a photograph that includes a miniature stage or still life. A description of such an image is “The tableaux reconstructs events as in the narrative tableaux, but in miniaturized format, using dolls and other toy objects” (Kohler, 34).
After researching the artists I was assigned for this week, I was really interested in the way James Casebere created his own cities and photographs them. It would be interesting to create my “ideal” house and city on a small scale to photograph.